Many types of electrical devices require connections that can be easily made and broken. However, many connectors with these capabilities loosen or break too easily. For example, as with a computer circuit board employing connectors such as those described above, a loosened or broken connection could result in lost data, as the circuit becomes open. As a direct result, worker hours are lost as the worker must reconstruct their data and a repair person must be called.
Currently, many electrical connectors have mechanisms that help to prevent the connections from breaking. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,601,759 (Barker) discloses a cam lever that must be pulled downward in order to make the electrical connections between the leads, closing the circuit. Similarly, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,889 (LaSota) the contacts are brought into proximity with each other. A wedge member then compresses the contacts together. This compression makes the electrical connection, closing the circuit, and maintains the connection until the wedge member is moved from its compressive position.
One type of electrical connector which forms an electrical connection upon members contacting each other is the Miniature Multiple Conductor Electrical Connector or locking taper connector disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,363 (Reylek et al.). This connector includes two intermeshable members with major surfaces formed of a plurality of tapered elements. The tapered elements on the intermeshable members are complementary in order to intermesh in a frictional engagement. Each of the members includes an electrically insulative body and each member has electrically conductive segments along at least one side of each tapered element, the segments being arranged such that the segments touch, forming electrical connections upon intermeshing. The intermeshing creates an engagement, retained by frictional forces, resulting from the taper geometries disclosed in the Reylek et al. ('363) patent. These intermeshing forces are sufficient to maintain the electrical connections for substantial periods of time until the connectors are manually separated.
The disclosure in the Reylek et al. ('363) patent is incorporated herein by reference.